WHO calls for urgent action against monkeypox in Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday called for urgent action in Europe to contain the spread of monkeypox.

Cases of the disease in the European region have tripled in the last two weeks. In Europe alone, more than 4,500 infections were confirmed in 31 countries.

“The WHO European region accounts for nearly 90% of all laboratory-confirmed global cases reported since mid-May,” warned Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, which covers 53 countries.

In two weeks, cases of infections on the continent alone tripled, making Europe the epicenter of the disease. In the rest of the world, more than 5,000 cases have been recorded.

“Today, I am intensifying my appeal to governments and civil society to step up efforts in the coming weeks and months to prevent monkeypox from taking hold in an even larger geographic area,” Kluge said.

According to Kluge, 99% of those infected are men aged between 21 and 40, although cases have been reported among women and children.

The vast majority of cases have had a rash and symptoms such as fever, fatigue, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, sore throat or headache, the WHO said.

“WHO continues to assess the risk of monkeypox in the European region as high, given the continued threat to public health and the rapid spread of the disease, with challenges complicating our response and with additional cases to be reported among women and children. “, added Kluge.

Vaccines are still being analyzed

The WHO has not yet defined monkeypox as a global health emergency. Kluge, however, urged European countries to step up surveillance around the outbreak, which includes increasing genetic sequencing to identify cases as quickly as possible.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is looking into whether any vaccine against smallpox is effective against monkeypox. The WHO, however, warns that supplies for the production of this vaccine are currently low.

On June 14, the European Commission confirmed that it had reached an agreement for the purchase of 110,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine. Production is carried out by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic. Germany and the United Kingdom, among other countries, have already started to vaccinate vulnerable people, considered to be at risk.

Virus infections outside Africa used to be rare until May of this year. In several African countries, the virus is considered endemic.

The lack of inspection and laboratory diagnosis, however, makes many cases go undetected. This year alone, African nations have reported more than 1,800 suspected cases of monkeypox, with more than 70 deaths. Only 109 cases, however, were confirmed in the laboratory.

US ordered 2.5 million more doses

The United States is another country that has seen a rapid increase in the number of monkeypox cases since mid-May. To contain the outbreak, the US government has ordered another 2.5 million doses of vaccine produced by Bavarian Nordic, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday.

Called Jynneos, the vaccine has already been cleared by US health officials for both smallpox and monkeypox cases. The idea is to vaccinate mainly risk groups and residents of areas that have registered a high number of cases.

Bavarian Nordic reported that total US orders have now reached 4.4 million doses. Deliveries are expected to start from the last quarter of this year and continue until early 2023.